Obamacare | The Government's Takeover of Health Care

Obamacare Navigator Loses Private Patient Information in Connecticut

Normally, losing a backpack can be a frustrating situation, unless you're a community organizing Obamacare navigator. In Connecticut, a navigator lost their backpack, which contained personal and private information of some 400 individuals - we're talking the most intimate details of a person's life. Obamacare navigators are intended to help people navigate the extremely convoluted and confusing law, and are typically community organizers or from labor unions. And they have access to this very private data.

The statement notes that a backpack was recovered in Hartford that held “four notepads with personal information for approximately 400 individuals. The backpack also contained Access Health CT paperwork and it appears as though some of that personal information may be associated with Access Health CT accounts. It is still unclear where the backpack came from, and we are working [with] the Hartford Police Department to investigate, and contact the individuals whose information may be compromised. … Let me be clear: we are sorry this happened. This is a very serious situation and we will hold the person or persons who are responsible to account.”

Kathleen Tallarita, the government and public affairs outreach manager for Access Health CT, told National Review Online by phone that the health exchange does not know yet whether identity theft has occurred, but “we’re diligently looking into what’s happened.”

The Connecticut health exchange conducts a background check on all navigators. While prior arrests or convictions do not necessarily disqualify an applicant from becoming a navigator, the health exchange has a policy against approving anyone who has falsified their criminal-history information or has committed a serious felony like fraud or larceny.

According to records obtained by NRO in January, 21 prospective navigators were flagged after their background check. Though most were dropped from the program, one was approved despite a class-B felony conviction 19 years earlier, and three were approved despite misdemeanors within the last decade. None of these four flagged navigators had convictions since, according to the records.